


Don’t Leave

by forkflinger



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 09:46:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16553462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forkflinger/pseuds/forkflinger
Summary: Roxas is back, in his own body, in a soft bed, with a warm somebody next to him. They should probably talk, but they’re just gonna snuggle.





	Don’t Leave

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the vague KH3 future. Roxas comes back somehow, don’t worry about it.

The room Roxas woke up in was unfamiliar; the bed was soft, and warm, and strange. The hair that fell across his eyes was light. He lay there, staring up at the ceiling for several minutes, before he remembered. He wasn’t waiting for Sora to get up. He had to do it himself.

He lifted one hand, experimentally, and watched it move under his control. One finger, two fingers, weird wiggles, flipping the bird, a flick of the wrist. He’d been a passenger in another’s body for so long that even this small novelty felt like stretching stiff muscles. This was his body, and his alone. He was the one who could choose whether to stay in bed or get up and start his day. Sora had always been a snoozer, stalling as long as possible, no matter how frustrated or bored Roxas was. Now, though, with the choice being his, he was seeing the appeal of staying right where he was. Because as much as he wanted to take advantage of his newfound freedom, the bed was soft and warm, and he wasn’t quite sure what awaited him outside. 

Unfortunately, his body had other plans. It took Roxas several groggy minutes to identify a full bladder, and a little longer to remember that he had to go deal with it himself. He could probably ignore it for a while, but he was still adjusting to being in control and the consequences of misjudging that control would be too dire to contemplate. So he groaned, and wiggled, and only then identified the weight pinning him down.

A long, thin arm clad in black was draped across his waist. He followed it to its inevitable conclusion: Axel, curled up next to him. No, wait - Lea. He lay on top of the blanket, his forehead pressed against Roxas’s shoulder. His cheeks were missing the strange little marks they used to have, and the black smudges around his eyes didn’t used to be makeup, but it was him. 

He hadn’t been in bed when Roxas fell asleep; he was pretty sure of that. A lot of the previous day was a blur - they’d probably be explaining how he got here for weeks and he still wouldn’t get it - but Lea’s presence had been a constant, that bright red hair hovering around him from the first moment he could blink, could focus his eyes, could turn his head and look around and latch onto a splash of color in a world that had gotten very confusing very fast. He’d been in arm’s reach ever since. A warm hand on his elbow or shoulder anchored most of Roxas’s more solid memories, a physical reminder that he was here. Snippets of dialogue floated through his head, out of context except for their ties to Lea’s hand on his, or arm around his shoulders, or firm grip on his wrist pulling him somewhere. 

He was pretty sure Lea had started the night on the couch across the room (were they in Radiant Garden? Someone’s house?) because he refused to leave, like Roxas would disappear in the night if he wasn’t watched. Foggier was the memory of dangling his arm off the edge of the bed, brushing against something warm. Lea must’ve climbed up on the bed some time after that.

Maybe he should have minded. Maybe there was some violation of propriety here, maybe he should have been embarrassed or angry or upset. Instead, he slid just a little closer, soaking in the warmth and the weight of Lea’s body. It was his alone to feel, unfiltered, unshared. He closed his eyes, fully prepared to waste his newly acquired body on lying here for hours. 

The body had other plans, though. And some very convincing arguments. 

Roxas groaned and rolled onto his side, away from Lea. Bathroom, then, bathroom and straight back here before his stupid body could wake him up entirely. But as he started to move, the arm around his waist tightened. The slender dangling fingers clenched, gripping the blanket and a fold of clothing underneath. Roxas looked down at Lea; his eyes were still closed, but the tiniest bit of a frown had appeared. Roxas tried to sit up, but fell back down under the sudden pressure from the arm. 

“Ax - Lea,” he said, catching himself midway. The name change might take some getting used to. The man next to him didn’t respond to either name, though, just pressed himself a little tighter to Roxas. Roxas lifted himself up onto his elbows. “Lea.”

Lea mumbled something Roxas couldn’t make out. When Roxas tried to extract his arm, though, he repeated it, in a voice so soft it could’ve been a breath. “Don’t leave.”

Roxas stopped at that. “Lea?”

“Don’t,” and Lea nuzzled against Roxas, eyes still closed, “don’t leave me. Don’t leave again.”

Roxas rested one hand on Lea’s head, stroking the soft red hair. “Lea,” he said again, “I gotta go. I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t leave,” Lea repeated. He was at least half-asleep, and Roxas’s gentle attempts at escape couldn’t overcome whatever dream Lea was clinging to.

“Lea,” he said, patience waning, “if you don’t let go I’m gonna piss on you.”

That finally cut through, and Lea grumbled but pulled his arm back. Roxas swung his legs over the edge of the bed, shivering in air that wasn’t really that cold except in comparison to the warmth behind him. He stood before Lea could latch on again, wobbling slightly. “I’ll be right back,” he repeated, and received an incomprehensible mumble in reply. 

Radiant Garden was a world of indoor plumbing and very smart architects. Getting vertical had increased his urgency, so Roxas was extremely grateful to open the door and see, right across the hall, door open and beckoning, the bathroom. He got in and out without incident, no catastrophic failure to operate his own body (something he hadn’t considered as a risk until it was too late to do anything about anyway). As quick as he could with soft footsteps, he returned to the bedroom, closed the door behind him, and slipped back into the bed. He probably should have hesitated, taken a second to consider the implications of his actions, questioned and second-guessed or something, but he was back under the blankets before any of that occurred to him.

Lea hadn’t moved, but automatically returned his arm to its position pinning Roxas down. Roxas squirmed under him, tugging the blanket free and covering both of them with it. Now Lea was one layer closer, and Roxas sighed and let his head fall onto the pillow. “Said I’d be right back,” he whispered. 

Lea shifted position, sliding up so that his forehead now brushed against Roxas’s neck. His arm folded, his hand resting near his collarbone. “Yeah,” he said, his voice muffled by Roxas’s shirt. “Didn’t want you to leave.”

Roxas tilted his head, but couldn’t get a good look at Lea’s face from this angle. “Axel?” he said, then, “Sorry, Lea.”

“You can call me Axel if you want.” Apparently he was awake now, capable of actual sentences. “If it’s easier.”

“Just gotta get used to it.” Roxas took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Was he about to ask something? He forgot. 

A few minutes passed in comfortable silence. Roxas found himself almost drifting back to sleep, when Lea spoke again.

“You were so sure no one would miss you,” he said.

Roxas pulled himself back to consciousness. It seemed important to respond. “I had to,” he stumbled over the right euphemism, “go. For Sora. Because - “

Lea groaned and bumped his head against Roxas. “Yeah, yeah, I know. They needed the Sunshine Kid.” Roxas could hear the eye-roll. “Savior of hearts, beloved by all, blah blah.” He squeezed Roxas. “I would’ve rather had you. Maybe I was the only one.” He sighed. “You sure didn’t.”

Roxas wasn’t sure what to say to that. At the time, it had been so clear. Sora needed to wake up. He was the one who was real, and he was needed. Roxas was literally nobody. Barely a choice at all; just the way things had to be. “It didn’t matter,” he said, closing his eyes. “I didn’t matter.”

There was a long silence, before Lea mumbled something into Roxas’s shoulder. Roxas pulled away, just enough to look at Lea’s face, but Lea buried it even deeper in the fabric between them. “Huh?”

Lea repeated it, but he was harder to hear.

“Axel, I can’t - “

“You mattered,” Lea said, yanking his head back, “to me.” Roxas craned his neck but Lea avoided his gaze.

“Oh,” he said, pointlessly.

Lea dropped his face back into the blankets. “Dumbass,” he growled. 

“Sorry.” And then, after a moment, “Sorry.” The second one was bigger.

Lea grunted something that might have been acknowledgment. Or further admonishment. Or frustration. It was hard to tell.

Roxas had only fuzzy memories from after he rejoined Sora, mostly. Like he’d been told about things that happened rather than experiencing them himself. Sora’s encounters with Axel were sharper. He could remember, crystal clear, Axel fading into nothingness. And he could remember a conversation they couldn’t have had. It was too late, when he realized what he’d done. He could only watch as the one person who truly cared about him fought, and suffered, and died.

He’d let himself fade after that. He stopped paying attention. Sora fought, and Sora laughed, and Sora cried, and Roxas didn’t care about any of it. He watched through Sora’s eyes and heard through Sora’s ears and felt with Sora’s body and it was all as real as a puppet show. 

Then Sora had a dream. And Roxas snapped into focus again. And for an instant, he was there. He was real. Sora himself said as much, told him he deserved to be. But Roxas knew better, and gave in again, and let Sora sweep him away. He started to disappear again.

Until Lea showed up, alive and whole and real.

Suddenly Roxas wanted to exist again. Suddenly there was something out there for him, something that made him want to be more than a passenger. Something that he could focus on, to build Roxas around, like a pearl forming around a grain of sand. And now he was real.

Roxas didn’t have words for all of that. Maybe eventually, maybe on some other chilly morning he’d be able to get it all out there and really say it, say everything.

For now, though. “Sorry.”

Lea tapped Roxas lightly on the cheek. “Don’t do it again,” he said.

Roxas smiled. “Okay. I won’t.”

Lea nuzzled back into Roxas’s shoulder, eyes closed. “Good.”

Roxas sank back into the bed. This was the first time they’d had alone, at least as far as he could remember. Yesterday had been a lot of activity and once they got up, they’d probably have to deal with some consequences, because why would anything be easy? And there would be other people, with lots to say, very urgent and complicated explanations and orders and tasks. It might be a while before they were alone again, and Roxas was sure he’d had more he wanted to say. 

He could only think of one more question. “Do you know whose house we’re in?”

“No clue.”

“Okay.” Roxas nodded and closed his eyes, letting the warmth of the blanket and Lea next to him wrap around him. His body still wanted sleep, and he was inclined to let it have some. At the moment, there was nowhere he’d rather be.


End file.
